It's Alive! Humanoid Robot Powers Up on Space Station

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Move over Commander Data, there's a real robot in space, now. The
International Space Station got a new crewmember today, one made
not of flesh and blood, but of gears and clockwork instead.

Called
Robonaut 2, the automaton astronaut was activated by human
spaceflyers today (Aug. 22) after months in storage since being
delivered to the space station earlier this year. An initial
series of tests checked the robot's power systems and camera
eyes.

The first view through the robot's eyes was a complicated panel
of cables, dials and instruments.

"Sure wish I could move my head and look around," another
Robonaut 2 Twitter post read. The robot won't actually move for
several more weeks, as its creators continue running tests.

To be clear, Robonaut 2 cannot post Twitter updates on its own
(the robot's engineering team does that under the name
@AstroRobonaut). But the $2.5 million Robonaut 2, also known as
R2, is designed to serve
as a robot helper for the six-man crew on the space station.

Robonaut 2 is the first humanoid robot ever to fly in space and
was built by NASA as part of a joint project with car
manufacturer General Motors. The goal is to build a robot helper
suitable to assist humans in complex tasks, be they in space or
on Earth, project officials have said.

"He has been groveling in his stowage location over here in the
lab," space station astronaut Mike Fossum of NASA told Mission
Control. "The complaint's mainly been that he wants to get out
and get to work. Well, today is finally the day."

NASA delivered Robonaut 2 to the space station during the shuttle
Discovery's final flight in February. At the time, NASA planned
to leave the robot in its box, but President Barack
Obama urged astronauts to set it free during a phone call to
the space station.

"C'mon, unpack the guy! He flew all that way and you guys aren't
unpacking him?" Obama joked. The robot was ultimately unpacked in
March, then put aside until it was needed.

"We know he's glad to be out of his container," a flight
controller told the space-station crew.

In it is current configuration, Robonaut 2 has a head, torso,
arms and super-dexterous hands, but it does not have legs or
feet. Instead, it is attached using an anchor-like pole to hold
it in place. It is about 3 feet, 4 inches (1.01 meters)
tall and weighs about 330 pounds (150 kilograms). [ Infographic:
Meet Robonaut 2 ]

A twin of Robonaut 2 stayed behind on Earth and can be plugged
into a mobile base to wheel around different terrains. NASA will
take that Earth-bound robot into the New Mexico desert next week
as part of a space-exploration technology demonstration test
program called DesertRATS.

When fully assembled on the space station, Robonaut 2 juts out
from a wall in the orbiting lab's U.S.-built Destiny module. That
made the robot a hazard to other station astronauts floating by.

Fossum tied pieces of bright orange tape around the robot's
wrists after today's tests so he and his crewmates could see and
avoid the mechanical man.

"Hopefully, with a little bit of orange flagging tape there it
will help remind people not to touch," Fossum radioed Mission
Control.

That was good news to Mission Control. The last thing anyone
wants is an accident that could damage the robot, Fossum and
flight controllers agreed.

"You know, when he goes into motion, he'll probably act in his
own self defense," Mission Control added with a laugh.

You can follow SPACE.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik on
Twitter@tariqjmalik.
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